[ CBS’ coverage of the voucher issue misled viewers to believe that public school students could go to private school “on a $7,500 voucher” … According to the liberal group People for the American Way, half of D.C.’s private schools cost $10,800 or more per year. With a maximum voucher amount of $7,500, private school attendance would still be out of the reach of many low-income families. –BL ] CBS Slants the Voucher Debate July 1, 2004 | Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting On its June 28 broadcast, CBS Evening News debuted a new campaign feature called “What Does It Mean […]
Daily Archives: July 1, 2004
12 posts
1 July 2004 | Misleader.org Two weeks ago, Homeland Security secretary Tom Ridge said that U.S. ports and ships were in “full compliance” with international security requirements that go into effect today.1 However, a new report2 by the non-partisan General Accounting Office (GAO) reveals that Ridge was incorrect. According to the GAO, around seven percent of all U.S. ports and half of all ships have not even been reviewed by the federal government. The Administration allowed industry groups to “self-certify to the Coast Guard that they were using appropriate standards.” But every security plan the Coast Guard did review “had […]
Bush’s AIDS Hypocrisy Cons the NY Times 30 June 2004 | The Nation by DOUG IRELAND When President Bush gave a speech on AIDS in Philadelphia on June 23, the New York Times got all moist because he mentioned the word “condoms” just once in his speech. “Bush Backs Condom Use to Prevent Spread of AIDS,” blared the Times headline on the story, signed by David Sanger and Donald McNeil Jr.
1 July 2004 | World Socialist Web Site by Don Knowland On June 14, the US Supreme Court reversed an appellate court decision that had ruled that permitting elementary school children to recite the Pledge of Allegiance?s affirmation that the US is a nation ?under God? violated the principles of separation of church and state embodied in the First Amendment to the US Constitution. The majority of justices declined to decide the issue of the Pledge?s constitutionality. Instead, the justices decided the case on a dubious technicality, ruling that the adult plaintiff in the case had no right or ?standing? […]
[ As important as it is to end the Bush Occupation of the White House, that ought not eclipse the long-term need to open the political process to more than Democrats and Republicans. While there are differences between the two, especially between Bush and Kerry, the many similarities leave “tens of millions of people … entirely unrepresented” on, for instance, issues of NAFTA-style trade policies and the Iraq war/occupation, to some degree. But even if, for the sake of argument, there were an excuse for “duopoly” opposition to third party participation in the presidential election (due to the special circumstances […]
[ In this article David Morris points out that the Didache teaches us that to evaluate whether an individual is pro-life depends on far more than his or her position on abortion; that for more than 1500 years the position of the Catholic Church on abortion was very close to that of the U.S. Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade: Early term abortion is not a mortal sin; and that in a private Mass in 2003, the Pope himself gave Communion to Tony Blair, a pro-abortion Episcopalian. U.S. Catholic bishops would be well-served if they were to emulate the example […]
[ This article follows up another printed here in April. –BL ] Charlie Tuna: Unsafe At Any Speed June 29, 2004 | AlterNet.org The EPA and two doctors’ groups have issued strong warnings about the dangers of eating mercury-laced fish. Then why is the White House working to loosen restrictions on mercury emissions from coal-burning power plants? by Sharon Lerner Remember when fish was the healthy choice? Today, the pluses of seafood — being low in saturated fat and high in omega-3 oils — are offset by creepy mounting knowledge about how much pollution has become a part of most fish […]
[ This new report is just the right response to Bush’s oft-repeated “it’s your money” justification of cutting taxes. The belief that what’s collected in taxes is “your money,” to be returned to you by the government in times of budget surplus, rests on a confusion. The precondition of “you” acquiring large sums of money is that a society set goals (security, education, transportation infrastructures, etc.) and raise funds through taxation to satisfy those goals. It is conventions in such societies that determine how much money counts as “your money.” There is no quantity of money that counts as “yours” […]
[ Perhaps the Bush Administration likes the prospect of no contingency plan better. This story follows up an earlier one printed here. –BL ] Voting Official Seeks Terrorism Guidelines 25 June 2004 | Associated Press by ERICA WERNER WASHINGTON — The government needs to establish guidelines for canceling or rescheduling elections if terrorists strike the United States again, says the chairman of a new federal voting commission. Such guidelines do not currently exist, said DeForest B. Soaries, head of the voting panel. Soaries was appointed to the federal Election Assistance Commission last year by President Bush. Soaries said he wrote to […]
Justice Department Says It Can’t Share Lobbying Data Because Computer System Will Crash Jun 29, 2004 | Associated Press by Ted Bridis WASHINGTON – The Bush administration is offering a novel reason for denying a request seeking the Justice Department’s database on foreign lobbyists: Copying the information would bring down the computer system.
Abu Ghraib, Stonewalled June 30, 2004 | New York Times While piously declaring its determination to unearth the truth about Abu Ghraib, the Bush administration has spent nearly two months obstructing investigations by the Army and members of Congress. It has dragged out the Army’s inquiry, withheld crucial government documents from a Senate committee and stonewalled senators over dozens of Red Cross reports that document the horrible mistreatment of Iraqis at American military prisons. Even last week’s document dump from the White House, which included those cynical legal road maps around treaties and laws against torturing prisoners, seemed part of […]
The power behind the Bush throne U.S. policy should have as its explicit goal removing Saddam Hussein’s regime from power and establishing a peaceful and democratic Iraq in its place. We recognize that this goal will not be achieved easily. But the alternative is to leave the initiative to Saddam, who will continue to strengthen his position at home and in the region. Only the U.S. can lead the way in demonstrating that his rule is not legitimate and that time is not on the side of his regime…. We should establish and maintain a strong U.S. military presence in […]